Sarah's first thought when she appeared in the throneroom was to wonder if a pillow full of black feathers had exploded.
Goblins were running in every direction, black feathers floated in the air and littered the floor, a black hen was pecking and scratching mercilessly at anyone who didn't get out of her way fast enough. The offended goblins would howl in pain before gleefully rejoining the chase.
Sarah peered through the floating feathers and spied her parents, Karen and Robert were huddled on the bench in the pit, oblivious to the chaos their eyes were glued to the crystal clutched in Karen's white knuckled fingers.
The look on their faces made Sarah's heart jump into her throat and she rushed over to them, she didn't notice that the chase had doubled back, a smaller goblin made impact with her knee and she landed sprawled in a heap.
"Ow!"
The black hen came into view, still in hot pursuit. Tangled in the goblin pile Sarah raised her hands over her face, too stunned to remember that she could transport.
A tiny goblin that was wearing too big tattered stilettos that might at one time have been pink threw itself in the way, bravely weilding a fork. The hen halted and narrowed its eyes, bobbing its head warily and scratching the ground with a claw. Without taking its eyes off of the deranged hen the goblin raised its hand to signal at Sarah to stay back before taking a fencing stance.
There was a howl of "Kidneys!" before the opponents hurtled towards each other, on impact becoming a flurry of limbs and wings. Seemingly emboldened by their comrad several other goblins threw themselves into the melee, the surrounding goblins began cheering and a few looked to be placing bets.
First one and then two pink stilettos were lost in the scuffle and Sarah worried for the safety of the tiny goblin.
The frenzied battle was still zigzagging around the throneroom. The hen took to the air in a desperate attempt to untangle itself from her pursuers and but as she lifted up above the crowd the tiny goblin hung on.
On the wall opposite a narrow wooden door appeared and immediately swung open, revealing a wide eyed Mrs Henderson gaping in confusion and horror at the goings on of the throne room.
Desperate, the hen spotted the new doorway and made a dash for it. Mrs Henderson paled visibly as the deranged bird and cargo bored down on her. Just as the hen approached the threshold, Mrs. Henderson roused from her stupor and slammed the door in its face.
The hen impacted the newly solid stone wall wings spread wide, for an instant looking almost decorative before sliding down to a heap on the floor.
The trailing goblins skidded to a halt, murmuring in concern, the tiny goblin crawled out from under the dazed hen and dared to poke it gingerly with its fork. The hen defiantly lifted her head and another goblin screamed. "Run!"
The goblins scattered, the hen at their heels, and the chicken-chase continued
On the sidelines a few goblin observers begrudgingly handed over ale mugs and trinkets to a gleeful horned goblin.
Sarah desentangled herself from the pile of goblins and rubbed a few bruises, a choked sob pulled her attention back to her parents who were forgotten in the middle of the hubbub. Their eyes still rivited to the crystal, Karen's lips quivered, Robert rubbed his wife's shoulders consolingly.
Rushing to their side she peered into the crystal just in time to see a giant fanged feline bound towards her little brother.
She screamed.
The chaos in the throneroom screeched to a halt as everyone turned to see why the Lady had screamed.
Everyone except the black hen, who swooped down, aiming for the shiny globe in Karen's hand, Karen screamed and dropped the crystal which shattered as it hit the floor.
Karen started to cry, Robert took her into his arms but he also looked on the verge of tears.
Sarah just stared, blinking at the shards, even without seeing she knew that the game must end.
...
As Jareth transported he was unsure of his next move, the rules prevented him from directly saving a runner, he could only hope that his appearance would surprise the beast, whatever it was, and give Toby a chance to escape.
But arriving at Toby's last known location neither Toby nor the beast were anywhere to be seen, trepidation filled him as he noted the trail of broken branches and claw marks lead off deeper into the forest. A crystal in hand Jareth crashed through the branches, arriving near the stone wall he halted and his heart plummeted.
A large orange striped beast had Toby pinned to the ground, at Jareth's hurried approach the beast bared its teeth and curled its body possessively around the boy. Jareth hung his head and waited for the game to end.
...
Pinned between the creature and the base of the wall Toby struggled to breathe. He trembled as the creature began to paw at him. Squeezing his eyes shut, he bit back a wimper as he felt its breath in his hair. Something soft and warm bumped his face just before something rough and wet touched his nose,
"Meow?"
Toby's eyes snapped open. The creature's large green eyes blinked at him contentedly, a rumbling noise resonating in its chest, it was purring!
The gigantic feline head-butted him again and Toby tentatively raised his hand and scratched its ear, careful to avoid its large canine teeth. At his attentions it purred and flopped on its side, obviously expecting Toby to continue petting him.
From experience Toby was wise enough to avoid petting the belly, teasing Tiger was one thing but this cat could eviscerate him by accident. The huge cat nudged him for more attention and purred even louder.
Toby marveled at the creature, it had thick striped orange fur that formed a type of ruff around its shoulders and its paws were the size of dinner plates. It was bigger than any of the big cats that he had ever seen at the zoo and with its huge protuding canines it looked like a sabertooth tiger. It truly was like one of his posters come to life.
A branch cracked somewhere nearby and the rumbling stopped as the beast turned its head, baring its teeth towards the disturbance.
Out of the foliage Jareth was approaching cautiously, Toby smiled sheepishly. "Hi Jareth."
Jareth smirked back, relief apparent on his face. "It seems that you have found a friend."
The enormous cat apparently decided that Jareth posed no threat and thus resumed purring, lifting its chin for more scratchies. Toby obliged, a huge grin creeping across his face. "I guess so."
Jareth waved his hand and a gilded clock appeared in the trees, its face read nearly half past eleven. "It would be best for you not to dally." He cocked his head to the right before fading from view.
...
In the throneroom Sarah dejectedly looked up at the clock, it read eleven twenty nine. As she watched the hands ticked to eleven thirty.
The hands were still moving! It wasn't over!
She looked back at the crystal shards, kneeling down she held her hand over them, imagined them whole. The pieces shifted, morphed, congealed back into a spherical shape. Karen eyes were wide with wonder, Robert gaped with a twinge of fear.
Sarah held the repaired crystal up and glanced within it, she could see Toby sitting on the forest floor, the giant feline wrapped around him like a guardian. Sarah smiled as she held it out for her parents to see. "It looks like Toby has made a new friend."
...
With a renewed sense of urgency Toby struggled to his feet, the cat was still leaning on him. Begrudingly it allowed him to get up. Toby looked around, the stone wall blocked one direction and the gaping hole in the foliage showed where he had come from. So his choice was right or left. All he could see in either direction was dense forest. Jareth seemed to have indicated that he should go right, but... should he trust him?
With a shrug Toby turned to the right, the feline cast a last glace at where Jareth had been standing before padding after Toby.
Despite the fact that the forest has seemed so dense it was only a few minutes before the trees abruptly ended, Toby stood on a small bluff leading down to a vast junkyard. Beyond the large mounds of junk Toby could see the castle and his hopes rose, his goal was in sight!
A few minutes later however he was grumbling in frustration, the terrain was uneven and unstable, he was constantly tripping and stumbling in hidden pitfalls. As he pulled his foot out of yet another gap that had been hidden with stray junk he leaned on a chair to lift himself up. A coarse voice screamed "Mine!"
The chair shifted and Toby saw that it, along with quite a lot of other junk, was attached to a goblin that was rummaging in the rubble. The cat bared its teeth and growled, the goblin huffed and scurried away, scowling.
Toby patted the cat's head, "Thanks buddy."
He was about to continue when something in the junk caught his attention. On the top of a nearby mound was a bright black and white soccer ball. But not just any soccer ball, the white circles and swirly black design caused his jaw to drop. They was an official world cup ball!
Toby ran towards it. As he climbed the mound it shifted, the ball rolled and bounced down the side of the mound. He scurried back down, searching for that flash of white and black, finally he spotted it stuck in a gap in the junk only a few feet away.
As he stepped towards it the ground trembled, the junk was unstable, ready to collapse at any moment. He paused, but it was so close! He took another step and the junk beneath him shifted and gave way.
Toby screamed as he fell, junk falling around him. When he tried to move he began to panic, the junk hemmed him in, he was stuck.
"Help!"
The cat circled the hole, sensing his distress but unsure of what to do.
A gruff voice called back, "Toby?"
"Hoggle?"
Another voice, lower but gentle joined in. "Tooobyyyy!"
Hoggle and Ludo, with Pottsy on his shoulders were making their way through the junkyard.
He waved his hands above his head and yelled. "Hey! I'm over here!"
Ludo reached him first, but paused when he saw the huge cat. "Kitty fwend?"
Toby. "Yes, kitty friend. Can you help me?"
Ludo carefully put Pottsy down and layed down on his belly, extending a huge hand towards Toby, Toby raised a hand, keeping the other latched on the ball. But when Ludo pulled up Toby's hand slipped, causing him to fall even deeper into the junk. Pottsy waved her hands emphatically and called out, "Hold on with both hands!"
But Toby clutched the ball, he had always wanted one, but his Dad always said no. He reached towards Ludo again, but the junk shifted again and he fell several inches deeper.
Ludo looked at him imploring, "Both hands." he said gently.
Toby looked at the ball, was it worth being stuck here? Was it worth losing his parents?
He threw the ball far from him and latched on to Ludo with both hands and felt himself rise from the junk.
Ludo set him gently down just as Hoggle caught up, huffing and puffing.
The cat had been pacing around while Toby had been stuck, as soon as he was out it bounded towards him, rubbing him and purring.
Ludo seemed awestruck as the huge cat rubbed against him as well, he began to pet it and murmured happily. "Soft kitty."
Pottsy approached and let the cat smell her and began petting it too. She grabbed a bunch of fur and climbed up, "Faster this way."
Hoggle kept his distance from the cat and grumbled. "We'd better get moving."
The outer walls of the city rose seemingly directly out of the edge of the junkyard. They followed the wall searching for the gate. At one point a mound of glittering junk was literally heaped against the wall. Tin cans, candy wrappers, toy cars, broken jewellery. A loud snore startled them as a puff of smoke lifted into the air.
Hoggle grimaced, "It's comin' from the doorway."
They crept closer, a long, scaly, iridescent green tail trailed out from a gap in the mound, which was also where the snoring was coming from. There was a grunting sound and a snort, and another puff of smoke.
Toby and his friends exchanged worried glances as they tip toed closer.
A tin can rattled loudly as it tumbled away from them towards the gate. Everyone froze, holding their breath.
Ludo mumbled sheepishly "Oups."
The snoring abrupty halted and a gruff voice emanated from the gateway. "Who goes there?"
...
Author's note
I know, I know, another cliffy. I was hoping to finish Toby's run in this chapter but it was getting too long so I chopped it in two to be able to update sooner, hopefully the next part should be ready soon.
Yes the fork weilding goblin is definitely referencing Skeep and the deranged black chicken is definitely referencing Rosalinda, if you don't know who they are then please go read Lixxle's hilarious fic, My Fine Feathered Friend.
Labyrinth belongs to Henson, I'm not making money with any of this.
I do own my O.C.'s
Thank you to Guest 2021, mae-E, vavasmama91, ChillVibezfriend and Rae for the wonderful reviews and to everyone else who has followed or faved this story so far.
And thank you everyone for your patience, the next chapter will hopefully be ready soon.